APPS & SITES

The Team’s in Town!

I’m excited to have at least some of the Stuck in Customs team visiting Queenstown this week! I wish we could get everyone out here. We’re preparing for the workshop this week, which will be absolutely amazing. The weather should be incredible, and we continually get a great group of people that come to these things.

Daily Photo – Through the Soft Roads of Zion

I love the roads in Zion! I know this is a strange thing to say about them, but whenever I see this exact color and texture of roads, they feel so soft and rubbery. Even the way they grip the car feels different. And, naturally, they look so good hyper-colored in the photos!

Has anyone seen “Her”?

Daily Photo – The Goats Who Stare at Men

I came to this wonderful, alien hillside one evening to take sunset photos. The lines and the clouds and everything lined up, and I thought it would be a perfect evening.

So after I took the photos, I laid back on this slope to take a little nap and wait for the stars. I took off my glasses and kind of set them behind me. I closed my eyes for a bit, and when I opened them up, there was a GOAT STARING DOWN AT ME. I just about levitated off the ground a few inches in shock while the goat clicked away. I flailed around and my glasses went skidding down the hill, glass side down. It was darker than that goat's eye sockets and I couldn't find them for five minutes. I finally found them, and there are still, to this day, a thousand tiny little scratches on them. It drives me nuts… anyway, I got my camera and got the heck out of there.

Why is Google+ required for The Arcanum

All applications and user accounts for www.TheArcanum.com require Google+ to be tied to the profile for a cornucopia of reasons that make everything better! We have built something totally different — a completely new and human way to learn by building on ancient Master & Apprentice traditions and combining with modern tech.

— Google+ Video Hangouts – You will be spending fun time in private Video Hangout sessions with your 19 fellow Apprentices and your Master when you have your critique sessions. Your one-on-one critique sessions, for example, are automatically saved to YouTube and available to everyone else in The Arcanum.

— Google Glass – Many Masters have Glass, and it is very easy to start live G+ Hangouts with Apprentices so that you can ask questions, live. We also are working on specialized apps inside of Glass that make communication and the AR aspect of the magical academy more fun!

— YouTube Videos – All videos in the Grand Library are stored on YouTube as Unlisted creations from the Masters. You’ll be able to view them all from inside The Arcanum, but you’ll also be able to use your own personal YouTube Playlists to keep track of your favorites and view them easily on any device at any time.

— Google+ Login/profile – Even though you will have a specialized profile within The Arcanum, it’s tied 100% to your Google+ login. We layer other things on top, such as the Leveling System for more. This is both for convenience and so that everyone else on the inside can easily link over to your public Google+ account. As we all know, Google+ is a great way to find new friends and share passions with a wider world.

If you already filled out an application right in the beginning, you can go back now and tie it into your G+ account! You can also update your application with additional info if you wish; this may help Masters learn more about you when they begin their selection process.

We’re working hard on all the tools and preparing for an internal test-run with the Masters. What you see below is the new UI that we are rolling in over the next few weeks. We’re all so excited, and I know you are too! Thanks again for your enthusiasm — it is helping to drive us all even harder!

Daily Photo – A scene off the side of the Utah roads

There is a major amount of driving you can do in Utah! I can’t believe how many miles I actually drove through that state… and there were many many many things to stop and shoot. This might have made everything feel longer. I also was happy to have nice and wide shoulders that gave me plenty of space to pull over and take photos. I always get stressed when I want to pull over to take a photo at any old time, but there is just no place safe. Ain’t nobody got time for dat!

Something Special Coming Up?

Yes oh yes! I’m working on something very special for you guys… I want to kind of give a hint as to what it might be, but it would just give it away! It’s actually under construction, kind of hidden away here on the site. If you do happened to find it, don’t tell anyone and enjoy the secret (even though it is still obviously unfinished!).

Daily Photo – Driving Into the Mistylight

What’s better than driving into a scene like this? Naturally, there’s a bit of squinting involved, but I think it is a cool thing when you are a photographer and you can take a photo, and then you actually are able to get in a car and drive right into the scene to see what is there around the corner!

Well, it didn’t turn out that awesome, because right around that corner was a Park Ranger from Zion that told me to turn around and I really should not be there.

The New Photomatix

If you’ve already bought Photomatix (or, if not, visit the Photomatix page and use the coupon code “TREYRATCLIFF” to save 15%) then you should be trying out the new beta! It’s really awesome. I used it to make this image below from Zion National Park. I keep forgetting to go to the beta page and get the newest version. They seem to release them on a fairly regular basis. There are so many changes that it is hard for me to keep track of it all, but I do no each subsequent version gets better and better.

Multi-Language Versions of the HDR Tutorial!

And speaking of Photomatix and HDR, we’re always adding new versions… here is the latest list.

Daily Photo – The Beauty of Zion

Here’s one of the first photos I got while rolling into Zion National Park. It was my first time to ever visit the park, so I was completely transfixed and blown away. It wasn’t that I had low expectations — it’s that I had NO expectations. But it was so colorful and full of trees and little rivers and everything… it was like being inside of a painting. Sorry it took me so long, Utah!